We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Benghazi occurred seven weeks before election day. The administration's strategy was simple: Downplay the terror attack, change the narrative, and run out the clock. And that's what it did.

But now the dam has burst. Carney's "here at the White House" comment has essentially thrown Clinton under the bus. Republicans, who leaked the edited emails to Karl and Hayes, have succeeded on two fronts: They've got the administration on the defensive over Benghazi, and they've weakened the Democrat's most formidable 2016 candidate.

"Fat America". The pictures showed the problem with the latest meme that we are all fat. First of all it is important to point out that if 20% are obese then 80% are not obese. Secondly most athletes and most really sexy woman are overweight or obese according to the BMI. In a lot of these cases it is the BMI that is the problem. The BMI is a very imperfect measure of weight vs body type that heavily (pun intended) penalizes shorter people and benefits taller people. But worse the cutoff for ideal weight or overweight etc is totally arbitrary and have little to nothing to do with health or ideal weight. Someone arbitrarily selected the BMI numbers as though they were handed down from god. If you are above 25 you are overweight, period! The implication is of course that you are also "unhealthy". Yet real data and statistics have shown the healthiest BMI is 27.5. That is the BMI which people have fewer illnesses and live longer. Above or below this health outcomes are worse. But interestingly even then higher BMI's are healthier then lower BMI's. That is a BMI exactly 5 points above this imperical ideal of 27.5 is healthier then a BMI 5 points below that. One of the confounding factors about BMI that reinforces the belief that lower is better is most of us when we were 16-21 were in good shape and probably a BMI of 23-25. We looked good, felt good and who doesn't want to look as good as they did between 16-21 again. But if you are 40 and your BMI is 23 you tend to look skinny and for some even a little unhealthy. For many reasons at 40 a BMI or 27.5 is healthier and more "normal". Nothing wrong with goying to the gym and trying to look as good as you did at 21 but don't conflate that goal with perfect health. There are a lot more factors then BMI and depending on your body type, age and conditioning BMI just might mean little to nothing.

Being overweight - as opposed to morbidly obese - isn't a health problem. It's just that people present better when they are trim and fit. It shows self-command, and it's sexier, too. In our culture, anyway.

It's true. Walk down almost any American street, outside elite areas, and it looks nothing like it does on TV.

Plus, so many people are overweight these days that when we throw off this freedom thing and accept Dear Leader, we won't be able to put together a decent Nuremberg-style rally. Well, not until after a little famine across the land. And even that would wipe out the "betters" long before it made a dent in the Walmart crowd.

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